Have we become this insensitive?

The past couple of months have seen showbiz people warring each other – all because of DJ Mo Twister’s Forbidden Questions in his morning radio show. Who is to blame?

Ricky Lo already asked the same question in his Funfare column last Tuesday and the Showbiz Stripped host refuses to put the blame on the controversial disc jockey.

If you ask me, neither am I blaming DJ Mo because – as I understand it (I have yet to listen to the radio program because it’s early in the morning) – guests have the option not to answer some of the questions.

Instead of finger-pointing and finding somebody to blame for the growing mess in show business, maybe we should look at it as an opportunity to reassess ourselves and be more careful with whatever we are going to say in public. (Even in private for that matter because in this business, remarks uttered – no matter how innocently said – can easily be twisted.)

I actually come from a show that does Tigbakan, which can be cruelly hilariously (our writers are the best and most creative – that much I can be proud of) – especially if you are just a spectator and not the target of the fashion police. Words are not minced in this segment. You just get hit with the whole slab of frozen meat and we are whacked cold when caught wearing the outrageously wrong outfit in a particular occasion. Fortunately, you have the next awards season (which is every so often in this country) to make up for the fashion crime you commit today and people – after a good laugh – have the tendency to forget and shrug off the incident. Surely, you are going to recover from that. Next fashion victim, please.

But radio and TV commentators going to town branding people as this or that, however, is an entirely different story. This is when members of the entertainment profession should be more careful because a word when spoken is already a done deal. Apology? You can try, but you already do damage to somebody else’s reputation the first time around. Even if you retract your statement, another person’s good name had already been impugned, if not totally ruined.

You know how it is when you arrest a person for a crime. Even if that person is proved innocent eventually, people still look at him or her with suspicion.

I’m not trying to play it clean (because my business – show business – thrives on smear, sadly), but I think it’s about time we become more sensitive to the feelings of others.

There are media practitioners today who can be so callous and irresponsible. They probably don’t realize that every time they open their mouth, a life is ruined.

They should be reminded that the people whose reputation they are maligning do not only hurt for themselves, but for their loved ones as well. Hey, these people have mothers who grieve over the pain of their children.

Sure, these media people claim they only speak the truth. Heck, who knows that? There are different sides to a story. Not unless you are there – unblinking all throughout – you have no right to claim to know the truth and absolute.

Unfortunately, the game has become so competitive that media moguls seem to tolerate – if not encourage – this kind of behavior among their talents. And we’ve become so used to trampling on other people’s reputations that we are beginning to accept this as the norm – to the point that DJ Mo’s young celebrity guests on radio have become so daring (without thinking of the repercussions, obviously), they’ve stopped giving a hoot about another individual’s feelings. Oh, that’s scary.

Today, we have animal rights, gay and lesbian rights and protection for children. But is there anyone in this profession doing something about protecting our feelings from loose cannons? There is supposed to be a governing body that monitors both radio and television, but it is so inutile.

I think there’s really something wrong in our culture. Moralists and the more conservative members of society are always on the lookout for personalities who sometimes make the mistake of uttering the four-letter word on the air. What they don’t realize is that it is far more harmful for minors to be hearing adults freely destroying another individual’s character and reputation publicly. Children are probably starting to believe that this is what is normal and what is right.

It’s just too bad that I can’t be pontificating on this because the circumstances of my career require me to dirty up my hands from time to time.

But this much I can promise: From my end, on my own – and whenever I can help it – I will try to be a responsible media person who will think twice if not thrice before spewing out anything on television (that is if I haven’t been doing it yet).

The showbiz world is too small for us to be fighting each other.